Powehi by Jakob Rehlinger

Powehi — the name given to the first black hole to be photographed taken from the Hawaiian phrase referring to an "embellished dark source of unending creation."

Kosmische drones and analogue drift down the gravity well.

"On the six tracks of Powehi, [Rehlinger] uses the Behringer Model D to great effect. This is a contemporary, affordable analogue synth, which replicates the Minimoog. Fittingly, the album itself pays homage to legends like Klaus Schulze or Manuel Göttsching. We begin with a gradual, ambient build-up, artificial water droplets announcing an oncoming flood. As swathes of synth melodies morph in and out of sustained drones, structure comes from the distant drumming of an advancing force. At higher frequencies, staccato tones mimic the string section of a robot orchestra.

The shorter pieces of the album use the synth in numerous, time-tested ways. Space-age plinks and plonks meet the whine of an expertly played theremin. Brooding, layered ambience becomes a noise floor for the signals of uninvented instruments. Like the 1970s and ’80s pioneers before him, Rehlinger balances the reproduction of organic sounds against the design of self-consciously artificial ones. The longest track, “Unending Creation”, takes a meandering tour around isolated stars pinging into life against a dark, humming backdrop. Is this what the start of our universe sounded like? Or is retro cyberspace announcing its belated autonomy?"
~ A Closer Listen

Jakob Rehlinger works in many genres. This account spotlights his music as a composer / improviser working in the nexus of ambient, jazz, kosmische electronics, electro-acoustic, new age, and more recently, orchestral works.